Coastal B.C. frets over Japanese tsunami debris cleanup

VANCOUVER — Residents of B.C.'s remote coastal communities are finding debris from last year's Japanese earthquake and tsunami — and they know it's just the beginning.

"I go out to the beach quite a bit, and we've recovered a lot of bottles with Japanese writing," said Andrew Merilees, mayor of Masset in Haida Gwaii.

"Styrofoam buoys have been noticeable, lots of fishing floats, large pieces of plastic. It seems that anything that floats and may be susceptible to being pushed by the wind is what is coming across now."

Merilees said that commercial crab fishermen from Haida Gwaii have been salvaging buoys for reuse.

Scientists expect the bulk of the floating debris will arrive next year.

"We expect this is just the beginning of the debris," said Merilees.

The spectre of a large debris field heading toward British Columbia has local officials concerned about who is responsible for the cleanup and the costs.

"The east coast of Haida Gwaii is very remote, and it would be difficult to perform a clean up," said Merilees. "So you wonder what the long-term effects are going to be on the ecology."

Merilees added that the Haida Gwaii islands lack any recycling facility large enough to cope with a serious accumulation of debris. "There is fear here that if we do collect it, it will just go into the landfill. But the debris from a few cities in Japan could fill our landfill in no time flat. So that would create additional costs of having to cover over our landfill and develop a new one."

Local emergency officials along the coast are developing strategies to deal with the coming debris and the eventual costs.

"The issue isn't just who is going to pay for it — it's also where we are going to store the debris because we don't have a recycling facility," said Karla Robison, manager of emergency services in Ucluelet, on the western shore of Vancouver Island.

Robison said an area has been set aside for bins to hold debris that will be sorted into garbage and recyclable material.

"I'm at the beaches and I'm seeing lighter-type flotsam material show up — more lighter, plastic material," said Robison.

Robison said she has been in discussion with provincial officials over what to do with debris objects that would be of interest to Japan. "We are definitely going to store it, tag it, inventory it, photograph it."

Robison said local volunteers and even volunteers from elsewhere in B.C. will help collect and separate the debris.

The visitor volunteer strategy will be spearheaded by the Great Canadian Shore-line Cleanup, jointly led by the Vancouver Aquarium and the World Wildlife Fund.

The group is launching a volunteer sign-up registry to support local, provincial and federal cleanup efforts. "We just want to be ready to provide some volunteers to these communities," said Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup manager Jill Dwyer.